Virtual Religion
In the ever-constant challenge of engaging the next generation, many faith traditions and religious organizations are taking a cue from wildly popular online social networking sites – such as Facebook – and creating sites that bring together young adults with similar faith backgrounds. This “Online Faith” trend toward attracting young adults through their own medium has parishes reaching out to teens via Facebook groups and World Youth Day participants joining a site created specifically for them.
Perhaps the largest religiously oriented social networking site, Xt3.com launched at World Youth Day last year and now boasts over 45,000 members. Through the site, members can post prayers on a virtual wall, interact with people from over 200 countries, access the readings and a homily for the day, utilize the extensive Catholic resources on the site, and even ask questions of priests or religious “over coffee.” Similar in function to Facebook, members can start groups, “friend” other people, get to know those brief acquaintances from World Youth Day, or even begin meeting other young adults in their own diocese.
Less like Xt3.com and more like an interconnected blog, The Paulist Fathers host BustedHalo.com, what they call an “online magazine for spiritual seekers” directed at post-college-aged young adults. With articles ranging from “Can Ambition be a Catholic Virtue” to “5 Ways to Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day Without Getting a Hangover,” BustedHalo’s content helps young adults bridge the gap between faith and living in today’s world.
4 Marks.com is an innovative blend of the article element of BustedHalo.com and the social side of Xt3.com. Members can maintain a profile on the site, and also listen to podcasts, read articles written by other members, and interact with Catholic “celebrities.” While BustedHalo.com and Xt3.com are both oriented toward young adults, 4 Marks.com does not focus on a particular age group.
The Jesuits, if not on the cutting edge, are never far behind. Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio has recently recreated its Jesuit Identity Resource site, making it highly interactive and conducive to dialogue. Thought-provoking short videos, timely comments from faculty and administrators, extensive articles and daily readings, and the ability to share your own thoughts all combine to form a powerful experience of Jesuit Identity today.
A number of other religious forays into the latest social medium can be found in two articles The Tablet published last November on the theme of attracting young adults back to their respective faith traditions.
April 2009
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